6.10 October 2016

Kurt Lingohr
- December 05, 2016 03:30

The focus this month has been to clear out tickets, hence the list of enhancements and fixes below talks to individual ticket numbers. Plus a round-up of some exciting new projects we have been working on.

Self-Drive or Driver-Required Workflows

We are pleased to announce that we have successfully piloted some new functionality specifically suited to countries and cultures where vehicles come with drivers.

In conjunction with Mix Telematics, we have been working on a large project for a global humanitarian organisation to implement Telematics + PoolCar for the purposes of fleet optimisation and workflow efficiencies.

The combined solution has been implemented in countries such as Lesotho, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia. This brings to 11 the number of countries where PoolCar is now used.

Using PoolCar, bookings are made either as 'Self Drive' or 'Driver Required'. If the user selects Driver Required then an entirely new driver allocation workflow kicks in, using SMS notifications to older 2G handsets.

Results from the pilot project are very encouraging and there will be more news to come!

First Keyless Entry Deployment

We are also very excited to announce the successful implementation of our first keyless entry deployment for a University in Australia.

This exciting new technology enables staff to book online through PoolCar, then at the designated time, unlock the vehicle using their smartphone. The keys are stored inside the car and the engine is immobilised.

In a sense, a set of virtual car keys are stored on the driver's smartphone, valid only for the duration of their booking.

Inside the vehicle our technicians install a GPS tracker and a 'black box' that is wired into the car's electrical system. We started working on this black box design over a year ago, having done initial field trials in Chicago USA in July 2015. Since then we have been refining the technology and integrating into the PoolCar system.

In early 2016 through a competitive bid process, PoolCar was selected to partner with the University to implement the keyless entry project throughout all campuses. In all 70 vehicles were fitted with our technology.

By integrating PoolCar to the GPS tracker, users can see on a map where the car is parked, especially handy for large campuses.

This new technology enables corporate fleets to operate like consumer-focused car sharing companies that we all know and love.

We will formally launch this new product early 2017.

Enhancements & Fixes

Ticket # 2874 - Issue with penalties generated for 'no show' bookings

#2870 - Driver register, licence status 'Licence not verified' has been added to the drop down selection list